360 VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. cuap. xiii. 



an hour left the houses, and followed the road across the low 

 flat ground covered mth rice-fields. 



The people as we passed along came to the road side to 

 salute the prince. Every person in the road moved to the 

 side as the prince approached, and the people in the fields or 

 enclosures hastened to the road as he passed. All saluted 

 him with, "May you live, sovereign or master," and the 

 homage seemed to he very cordially rendered. I inferred 

 somewhat of the habits of the prince from a conversation 

 among the officers, who observed that he had since the morn- 

 ing personally visited between twenty and thirty houses, for 

 the pui-pose of advising and directing the people, listening to 

 their requests or composing differences, &c., and I did not 

 wonder at his being so popular amongst them. 



At length we reached a bridge called Ambaniala, stretching 

 across a considerable stream. The bridge consisted of a 

 number of slabs of primitive rock, eight or ten feet long and 

 four or five feet wide, laid horizontally on piles of stones. 

 Continuing our way partly along the border of the stream, 

 we passed through several villages and came to another bridge, 

 Ilavatehezana, literally long bridge. I was astonished at the 

 structure, rude as it was, when informed that it was all 

 entirely native workmanship. The bridge, a series of arches 

 of different sizes, stretched across the river Andranomiery, a 

 shallow but smooth and flowing stream, forty yards across 

 The arches, eleven in number, were some of them fifteen feet 

 in the centre of the arch above the water. Others were 

 narrower and lower. On alighting from the palanquins, the 

 prince offered me his arm, and we walked together to the 

 bridge, which was about five feet wide on the top, and used 

 only by foot-passengers. 



The prince and two of his aides-de-camp spoke English 

 so as to make themselves generally understood. From them 

 I learned that the bridge was entirely planned and built 



